Police audio, video evidence used in record numbers

Mar. 15, 2013

Sgt. Cary Meyer of the Appleton Police Department listens to a club patron describe a disagreement earlier this year. The Appleton Police Department received a record number of requests for video evidence tied to crimes in 2012, and the trend shows no signs of slowing. / Ron Page/The Post-Crescent

How to request police audio, video or other media

Requests can be made in person, through the mail or by telephone at 920-832-5500. Written requests are processed by the Records Unit at the Appleton Police Department. Forms are available at the front desk of the APD at 222 S. Walnut St., Appleton.

APPLETON — The Appleton Police Department received a record number of requests for video evidence tied to crimes in 2012, and the trend shows no signs of slowing.

Of the 10,129 public record requests processed by the Appleton Police Department last year, 1,319 were for electronic media — usually audio, video and other digital files. That’s a seven-fold increase since 2006, when the department began tracking statistics.

A majority of the requests came from assistant district attorneys, according to a review by Post-Crescent Media. Under the state’s Public Records Law, the newspaper asked for all digital media requests in 2012 and received a list of 75 people whose requests led the department to burn nearly 1,800 CDs and DVDs.

“It’s very hard to argue with video evidence,” said Jon Padgham, manager of the Appleton office of the State Public Defender. “Virtually every Appleton police cruiser has dash video along with the officers that wear cameras on their uniforms. Anytime you have multiple officers arriving on a scene, you could have two videos from each officer and multiple angles.”

Padgham said the explosion in video quantity and quality also is due to big-box stores like Walmart and others beefing up their internal loss prevention programs.

With the video files, cases often go “from gray to black and white,” Padgham said.

The crush of video and hours of footage strains bandwidth for both county district attorneys and public defenders. Padgham said he and the police are searching for easier ways to share video files and the terabytes of data that accompany them.

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Dana Schmidt, the police department’s administrative services manager, said electronic requests have increased dramatically since 2006 when the department began tracking statistics. That year, 179 requests were filled.

As of this week, 317 requests have been filed for digital media. It took until April 10 to eclipse that mark in 2012, signaling another record year.

With all the video evidence introduced, fewer cases get contested, said Stacy Doucette, the city’s assistant city attorney, who handles a majority of the city’s traffic violations. She requested 155 files last year, according to the review.

Video protects the officers’ integrity just as much as it helps convict defendants, she said.

“I look for evidence of the violation,” Doucette said. “Then obviously we listen for an admission to the violation and the conversations they had with (the) officer.”